The university council can now conduct secret votes in exceptional circumstances. The council believes this measure will help prevent possible reprisals from administrators against council members.
The council made this decision on Thursday, following a closed-door discussion on the topic last month. The board of directors is not in favour of the change, arguing that it undermines the transparency of academic democracy.
However, as UG president Jouke de Vries previously stated, it is the council that decides its own rules of procedure. The council considers it crucial to ensure that individual members are not at risk of facing problems with their superiors due to their voting behaviour.
Name change for Faculty of Arts
This concern came to the forefront earlier this year in April during the confidential discussion of the Faculty of Arts’ name change. Although the Arts faculty council had approved the change, the council’s approval was expected to be a mere formality.
Nevertheless, the council had critical questions for the Faculty of Arts’ administration. While these questions were made public, the subsequent discussion occurred behind closed doors. The council believes that anonymous voting could help prevent similar situations in the future.
Social safety
The board of directors had previously argued that this is not primarily a council issue but rather one of social safety within the university. The board would prefer to address the underlying problem directly. While the council acknowledges this, it also points out that social insecurity still persists.
According to the new rules, anonymous voting is only allowed in exceptional cases. If a council member believes such a situation has arisen, they must provide a detailed justification to the rest of the council. Two-thirds of the council must then agree to proceed with anonymous voting.